ROSE BUSH

There’s a saying, “A Rose by any other name is still a rose.”  

A bush is like a community.  It has a single root cluster from which several canes shoot up out of the ground and in turn multiply in smaller branches until the tips show buds with leaves that eventually bloom. In nature they turn to seeds which can be sown into good soil and produce a rose bush for a following season. Roses come in as many colors and varieties as you can imagine, and so do humans in their communities.

If you do a survey of the most recognized fragrance or flower in any nation in the world, the rose comes up near the top every time. In India where I grew up as a Missionary Kid, people put rose water in making confectionery and you could taste it.  Rose infused creams, soaps, and lotions were the most popular.  Rose perfume was the most available in the markets. 

Here in the province of Alberta in Canada our provincial flower is the wild rose. They bloom all over the countryside and high into the foothills of the Rockies.  They are found on bushes as are most roses.  When you see the long stemmed roses from the florist, they have been grafted, cultured, and genetically propagated to produce an expected end.  But they begin as a bush.

All parts of the rose are have value. Rose petals are often sought after for their sheer beauty because they carry the color and scent, strewn on a brides pathway down the aisle, floating on a candle lit bath, or crushed to extract the essential oil.  And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. Gen 1:12  If you’ve ever had rose hip tea it’s rich tart flavor satisfies your body with a healthy dose of vitamin C. There are more varieties of roses than you can imagine, just like people, none of whom are identical.

Roses come in many different colors that each have a special meaning.  People too come in different colors that we want to refer to as "races" but for me there's only one race, and that's the "human race"!  We're still all like roses, and a rose by any other name is still a rose. 

All this comes with thorns!  Yes, there are thorns in our communities. They make some of us prickly and hard to handle. But they can also represent the protection from predators and thieves!  The lover in Song of Solomon says, "I am the rose of Sharon..." Roses have long stood for love in every culture.  So let's love more while we grow in our communities. 

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Click on Image for Link to    Ode a la Rose